ADVANCED MANUFACTURING OFFICE

Energy Tips: STEAM Steam Tip Sheet #4

Improve Your Boiler’s Combustion

Suggested Actions
Efficiency Boilers often operate at excess air
levels higher than the optimum.
Combustion Efficiency
Periodically monitor flue gas
Operating your boiler with an optimum amount of excess air will minimize heat composition and tune your boilers
loss up the stack and improve combustion efficiency. Combustion efficiency to maintain excess air at optimum
is a measure of how effectively the heat content of a fuel is transferred into levels.
usable heat. The stack temperature and flue gas oxygen (or carbon dioxide)
concentrations are primary indicators of combustion efficiency. Consider online monitoring of flue
gas oxygen level to quickly identify
Given complete mixing, a precise or stoichiometric amount of air is required energy loss trends that can provide
to completely react with a given quantity of fuel. In practice, combustion early warning of control failures
conditions are never ideal, and additional or “excess” air must be supplied to and allow data to drive your
completely burn the fuel. decision making.
The correct amount of excess air is determined from analyzing flue gas oxygen
or carbon dioxide concentrations. Inadequate excess air results in unburned
combustibles (fuel, soot, smoke, and carbon monoxide), while too much results
in heat lost due to the increased flue gas flow—thus lowering the overall boiler
fuel-to-steam efficiency. The table relates stack readings to boiler performance.

Combustion Efficiency for Natural Gas

Combustion Efficiency

Excess, % Flue Gas Temperature Minus Combustion Air

Temperature, °F

Air Oxygen 200 300 400 500 600

9.5 2.0 85.4 83.1 80.8 78.4 76.0

15.0 3.0 85.2 82.8 80.4 77.9 75.4

28.1 5.0 84.7 82.1 79.5 76.7 74.0

44.9 7.0 84.1 81.2 78.2 75.2 72.1

81.6 10.0 82.8 79.3 75.6 71.9 68.2

Assumes complete combustion with no water vapor in the combustion air.

On well-designed natural gas-fired systems, an excess air level of 10% is

attainable. An often-stated rule of thumb is that boiler efficiency can be
increased by 1% for each 15% reduction in excess air or 40°F reduction in stack
gas temperature.
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY OFFICE

Example
A boiler operates for 8,000 hours per year and annually consumes 500,000 million Btu Resources
(MMBtu) of natural gas while producing 45,000 lb/hour of 150-psig steam. Stack gas
measurements indicate an excess air level of 44.9% with a flue gas minus combustion U.S. Department of Energy—
air temperature of 400°F. From the table, the boiler combustion efficiency is 78.2% DOE’s software, the Steam
(E1). Tuning the boiler reduces the excess air to 9.5% with a flue gas minus combustion System Assessment Tool and
air temperature of 300°F. The boiler combustion efficiency increases to 83.1% (E2). Steam System Scoping Tool, can
Assuming a fuel cost of $8.00/MMBtu, the annual savings are: help you evaluate and identify
steam system improvements. In
Annual Savings = Fuel Consumption x (1–E1/E2) x Fuel Cost addition, refer to Improving
= 29,482 MMBtu/yr x $8.00/MMBtu Steam System Performance: A
= $235,856 Sourcebook for Industry for more
information on steam system
Flue Gas Analyzers efficiency opportunities.
The percentage of oxygen in the flue gas can be measured by inexpensive gas-absorbing
test kits. More expensive (ranging in cost from $500 to $1,000) hand-held, computer-based Visit the Advanced Manufacturing
analyzers display percent oxygen, stack gas temperature, and boiler efficiency. They are a Office website at manufacturing.
recommended investment for any boiler system with annual fuel costs exceeding $50,000. energy.gov to access these and
many other industrial efficiency
Oxygen Trim Systems resources and information on
When fuel composition is highly variable (such as refinery gas, hog fuel, or multi-fuel training.
boilers), or where steam flows are highly variable, an online oxygen analyzer should be
considered. The oxygen “trim” system provides feedback to the burner controls to automati-
cally minimize excess combustion air and optimize the air-to-fuel ratio.

For additional information on monitoring, download the following sub-metering case stud-
ies from the AMO publication library:
• Solutia: Utilizing Sub-Metering to Drive Energy Project Approvals
Through Data
• Nissan North America: How Sub-Metering Changed the Way a Plant
Does Business
Also refer to the following guidebook on the EERE Federal Energy Management website at
www.femp.energy.gov:
• Metering Best Practices: A Guide to Achieving Utility Resource Efficiency, Release 2.0
Adapted from an Energy TIPS fact sheet that was originally published by the Industrial
Energy Extension Service of Georgia Tech.

Advanced Manufacturing Office

Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
U.S. Department of Energy
Washington, DC 20585-0121
manufacturing.energy.gov

The Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) works with diverse partners to develop and deploy technologies and best practices that will help U.S.
manufacturers continually improve their energy performance and succeed in global markets. AMO’s Better Plants program works with U.S. corporations
through a CEO-endorsed pledge to improve energy efficiency. AMO’s tools, training, resources, and recognition programs can help build energy management
capacity within the industrial sector and supply chains. Use these resources to comply with requirements of the ISO 50001 standard and the Superior Energy
Performance program.

With our partners, AMO leverages additional federal, state, utility, and local resources to help manufacturers save energy, reduce climate and environmental
impacts, enhance workforce development, and improve national energy security and competitiveness throughout the supply chain.

DOE/GO-102012-3405 • January 2012

Printed with a renewable-source ink on paper containing at least 50% wastepaper, including 10% post consumer waste.